Our last two classes, with the focus on project wild, were my favorite of the whole semester. I learned so much and got so many GREAT ideas for the classroom. I love the project wild curriculum and can't wait to implement it in my future classroom! We started out our first class with the twenty questions game. I really liked this idea. I think it would be a great get to know you activity that is more creative and helps get the whole class involved.
After the twenty questions game we did an activity where we went looking for signs of wildlife in Jordan Hall. We were told to take pictures and report back to class. It was crazy to actually look for signs of nature and find all of the bugs and living things that I pass by every day. I know kids would love this activity and it would really push them to think about their surroundings more. We also talked about how we could integrate the lesson with different subjects. You could have them do a creative writing assignment, graph the bugs that they found, make observational sketches, or a map of where you found the signs of living things.
The next part of the class was my favorite and I had a blast! We played the thicket game. In this game there was one person who was the fox and the rest of us were bunnies. The object was to use whatever you could in the classroom to hide from the fox so they could not identify you, but the catch was you had to be able to see the fox. It was hilarious to see our class full of umbrellas and student made forts. I would absolutely use this in my classroom someday! Students would remember it and understand hiding from prey easily.
We also played Muskox Muanuvers where students were assigned to be either a wolf, bull, cow, or baby. Each had different rules and different goals. I thought this would be such a great game to play outside with the kids. It involves strategy and shows children how animals survive in the wild.
I also learned a lot of great things in our last class. We started out with the deer activity where students were either habitat or a deer. We lined up on opposite ends of the room and the deer had to find their corresponding habitat to survive. During the game wolves and humans were added to create prey. I really loved the lesson that this taught and thought it would be great for kids to graph the data and really study what happens in nature with natural predators and when there are too many deer or other factors.
We spent the rest of the class discussing project wild and different resources that we could use in our classrooms. I really liked the idea of a toad hotel, using half of a pot and leaving it in the ground for toads to find. I remember playing with toads as a kid and loved it! I also like the sprout your hands/socks idea. Having plants grow in the classroom that students have had part in always adds to a level of curiosity and extended learning.
I learned so much from project wild and I am so glad I got to participate. Thanks so much Dr. Pangan for an awesome semseter!!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
All About Social Studies
The topic of the day was using primary sources and how to compensate when you can't get them. I learned so much in class and found it extremely useful! The lesson example that we took part in was teaching students from their textbook about Tenochitlan, an ancient city in Mexico. One of the keys to the lesson is that we made up hand motions for the difficult vocabulary words that the students needed to learn. The words were Tenochitlan, Hernando Cortez, Moctizuma etc... These were important people in the story and making up motions for them was a way for the students to remember who they were. Students were asked to come to the front and act out the characters. They were given props as well. One student was a narrator and would read the text book as the student participants and the rest of the class would act out/observe what was actually going on in the story. I thought this was such a great technique! I even learned a lot from what we did and will remember it so much better. The second part to the lesson involves drawing histopics. Histopics are stick figure drawings that recap the story in order of the events so the students have another visual representation and way of remembering what we learned. To finish the lesson have students retell the story to a friend or a parent!
We spent the rest of the class learning about 12 easy ways to use primary resources. Here is what we learned:
1. Gossip Collumn/News - article about the event
2. Histopic - note taking with pictures
3. Walking Timeline - long piece of paper with artifacts
4. Social Studies Songs (SSS) - tons, or make them up
5. Dramatic plays and readings - assign roles and have them carry over the rest of the semester
6. Synectics - compare concept to something different
7. Grafitti groups - chart paper around the room with different questions
8. PBL project based learning - high conflict and innovation
9. ABC Brainstorm - vocabulary or key words
10. Story Board - more professional histopic great computer program
11. Photo journaling - kids take pics of scenes and describe in writing
12. Graphic organizers or flip books
Lastly, we spent the rest of the day at the Benjamin Harrison House. We got a tour of the house and got to participate in an activity that children who visited would experience. It was very educational and cool to get a feel for what it would be like immigrating over here. I learned a lot from the experience!
We spent the rest of the class learning about 12 easy ways to use primary resources. Here is what we learned:
1. Gossip Collumn/News - article about the event
2. Histopic - note taking with pictures
3. Walking Timeline - long piece of paper with artifacts
4. Social Studies Songs (SSS) - tons, or make them up
5. Dramatic plays and readings - assign roles and have them carry over the rest of the semester
6. Synectics - compare concept to something different
7. Grafitti groups - chart paper around the room with different questions
8. PBL project based learning - high conflict and innovation
9. ABC Brainstorm - vocabulary or key words
10. Story Board - more professional histopic great computer program
11. Photo journaling - kids take pics of scenes and describe in writing
12. Graphic organizers or flip books
Lastly, we spent the rest of the day at the Benjamin Harrison House. We got a tour of the house and got to participate in an activity that children who visited would experience. It was very educational and cool to get a feel for what it would be like immigrating over here. I learned a lot from the experience!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Dino Day
Dino day was yet another fun day at the children's museum. The highlight of my day was touching a 65 million year old triceratops skull! How many people can say that they have done that?
We started the day off by looking at a few pictures and discussing the following:
1. What did you see/notice in the picture?
2. What did you see that makes you say that?
3. What more do you see?
These three questions helped focus the answers and the thinking. Students can use their imagination but have to be able to back up what they say. It follows the scientific method, is a reading strategy, and is student centered. The downsides are if you have hesitant participators, it is not an hands on activity, and it is a spiraling activity.
Since the focus of the day was dinosaurs we got to create our own dinosaur out of play-dough. I loved this activity because I am a very hands on learner. We were given a sheet of different terms such as odo - tooth, ops - eye. We were asked to create a dinosaur and name it based off of the scientific terms like real scientists would do. I thought this was very creative and definitely something I would do with my students!
The rest of the day was spent learning how to make a cast out of plaster of a dinosaur tooth, something kids would love! We also got to hear one of the dinosaur experts in the museum talk about everything he does and what he knows about dinosaurs. Bringing experts into the classroom is a great idea and helps the students gain deeper knowledge!
We started the day off by looking at a few pictures and discussing the following:
1. What did you see/notice in the picture?
2. What did you see that makes you say that?
3. What more do you see?
These three questions helped focus the answers and the thinking. Students can use their imagination but have to be able to back up what they say. It follows the scientific method, is a reading strategy, and is student centered. The downsides are if you have hesitant participators, it is not an hands on activity, and it is a spiraling activity.
Since the focus of the day was dinosaurs we got to create our own dinosaur out of play-dough. I loved this activity because I am a very hands on learner. We were given a sheet of different terms such as odo - tooth, ops - eye. We were asked to create a dinosaur and name it based off of the scientific terms like real scientists would do. I thought this was very creative and definitely something I would do with my students!
The rest of the day was spent learning how to make a cast out of plaster of a dinosaur tooth, something kids would love! We also got to hear one of the dinosaur experts in the museum talk about everything he does and what he knows about dinosaurs. Bringing experts into the classroom is a great idea and helps the students gain deeper knowledge!
Science Exploration - CSI Newsletter
WHAT?
CSI stands for Curious Science Investigators. The students collect data at five different places in the museum: the dock shop, pond, aquarium, water clock, and dinosphere. Our group focused on the aquarium. We investigated the properties of water – temperature, density, volume, and color. Students observed and made inferences based on what they were seeing and doing. We also compared our site to others. They were also trying to discover where the “mystery stain” came from. The mystery stain was something that they had discussed in the pre-visit material.
WHO?
I worked with Samone, Alec, Gage, and Jazzmyn. They were a great group of kids and had a lot of fun! Alec was curious about how dinosaurs become extinct and discovered that a dinosaur he was learning about died from a brain tumor. Samone used the touch screen video in the dinosphere to learn about climate change. Jazzmyn told us, “I bet the crocodile ate Richard and Donna Deer”, when she saw there was a sign with their name on it (for donation purposes). All of the students were excited when they realized that the stain was from the aquarium where we were observing and testing density.
HOW?
I taught using inquiry-based methods. I asked the students a lot of questions and had them learn by being hands on and trying everything themselves. The classroom management aspect was handled as if we were the only ones there. The students were engaged enough that we did not have trouble with distractions in the museum. We got the data collection done first thing so they had time to walk around and see everything else afterwards. The students used pipettes, a thermometer, and hydrometer to do their data collection. It says in The Integrated Curriculum,” The world is not divided into things scientific and things social. Humans are in constant interaction with the world around them and have been throughout history.” This is what CSI should teach the students. Science is part of their daily lives and connects with all kinds of things.
Standards:
3.1.2 Participate in different types of guided scientific investigations, such as observing objects and events and collecting specimens for analysis.
3.2.4 Appropriately use simple tools such as clamps, rulers, scissors, hand lenses, and other technology, such as calculators and computers, to help solve problems.
ALSO
Adaptations for the group included allowing everyone to use tall of the tools. We only had to have 3 different recordings but each student wanted to try it which was great! I included all students by asking them questions and prompting them to participate in all activities and parts of the data collection. To make sure no one was “left behind” I walked around and talked individually with each student. I monitored their work and made sure they were on task, focused, and understanding what was going on. To accommodate all learning needs I made sure I said the directions, showed them, and wrote it down.
CSI stands for Curious Science Investigators. The students collect data at five different places in the museum: the dock shop, pond, aquarium, water clock, and dinosphere. Our group focused on the aquarium. We investigated the properties of water – temperature, density, volume, and color. Students observed and made inferences based on what they were seeing and doing. We also compared our site to others. They were also trying to discover where the “mystery stain” came from. The mystery stain was something that they had discussed in the pre-visit material.
WHO?
I worked with Samone, Alec, Gage, and Jazzmyn. They were a great group of kids and had a lot of fun! Alec was curious about how dinosaurs become extinct and discovered that a dinosaur he was learning about died from a brain tumor. Samone used the touch screen video in the dinosphere to learn about climate change. Jazzmyn told us, “I bet the crocodile ate Richard and Donna Deer”, when she saw there was a sign with their name on it (for donation purposes). All of the students were excited when they realized that the stain was from the aquarium where we were observing and testing density.
HOW?
I taught using inquiry-based methods. I asked the students a lot of questions and had them learn by being hands on and trying everything themselves. The classroom management aspect was handled as if we were the only ones there. The students were engaged enough that we did not have trouble with distractions in the museum. We got the data collection done first thing so they had time to walk around and see everything else afterwards. The students used pipettes, a thermometer, and hydrometer to do their data collection. It says in The Integrated Curriculum,” The world is not divided into things scientific and things social. Humans are in constant interaction with the world around them and have been throughout history.” This is what CSI should teach the students. Science is part of their daily lives and connects with all kinds of things.
Standards:
3.1.2 Participate in different types of guided scientific investigations, such as observing objects and events and collecting specimens for analysis.
3.2.4 Appropriately use simple tools such as clamps, rulers, scissors, hand lenses, and other technology, such as calculators and computers, to help solve problems.
ALSO
Adaptations for the group included allowing everyone to use tall of the tools. We only had to have 3 different recordings but each student wanted to try it which was great! I included all students by asking them questions and prompting them to participate in all activities and parts of the data collection. To make sure no one was “left behind” I walked around and talked individually with each student. I monitored their work and made sure they were on task, focused, and understanding what was going on. To accommodate all learning needs I made sure I said the directions, showed them, and wrote it down.
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